Childhood Friend
by Mad Hatter Usagi
Summary: When a new little boy moves into the neighborhood, Elizabeta finally gains a friend. As time goes by, they realize that they see each other as more than that. With a little help from their other friends, they might just be able to confess.


The little girl bit her lip as she sat in the mud puddle. Tears stung her eyes and a lump hurt her throat, but of course her childish pride didn't allow her to cry. She had wanted to play with the older kids, specifically the boys, but they didn't like the tomboy. So, of course, they pushed her into the puddle that was fresh from that morning's rain. Her green tunic and brown pants were stained with mud now.

Several older girls walked by, smirking approvingly as they did. They didn't approve of her rough housing or simple beauty that came natural to her. The smirk lit a cruel fire in the boys, and that wasn't good for her. The boys began kicking up mud at her and scooping up sloppy mud balls and hitting her with them. Mud caked her hair, cheeks, and clothes as they bombarded her. She still refused to cry, or even make a noise despite the pain that shocked her every time the mud hid small rocks.

She trembled slightly and shut her eyes, feeling lost and alone. This little girl had no friends. She wasn't close with any of the boys that she played with since they felt scorned that a girl could beat them in games. The girls her age didn't like playing hero, cops and robbers, or any other game where they weren't a princess or delicate housewife. No one was coming to her rescue, she was so sure that she was going to be hurt and then be sent home where her mother would scream and curse about her ruining her clothes and how she should act more like a girl.

She was the problem child that even her parents didn't approve of.

Suddenly there was a few thumps and a scuffle, the sound of soft grunts and cursing from the older boys and running away. The sound of someone plopping down on the ground by the puddle and sitting, and panting. She opened her eyes to a most peculiar boy, and he was looking at her just as curiously as she was at him.

The boy had red eyes. She stared into those eyes nervously, not knowing what happened or who he was. After a moment or two, they each took liberty in examining the rest of each other. Her eyes led her to scratches all over him and a few bruises, the kind you get in rough play, not angry, drunken hitting that she heard some men did to their families by eavesdropping on adult conversation. Platinum blonde hair that was tousled and messy, a yellow bird flew in circles a few feet above them, then perched on his head. The boy was wearing a white cape made of a cut up bed sheet, the edges frayed and dirty.

"Hi. I'm Gilbert, what's your name?" They boy asked in a strange accent that she had never heard.

"Elizabeta."

"Okay, I'm gonna call you Lizzy," Gilbert smiled, he was missing a tooth. It made him look silly, but cute.

"I'll call you Gil then," she responded cautiously. Elizabeta hadn't ever had a friend, or anyone who called her by a nickname.

Another bright smile, "Then we're friends. By the way, his name's Gilbird." He pointed to the little bird.

She giggled, "You named him after yourself?"

He frowned, "Yes, because such an awesome bird has to be named after an awesome person."

"I like you. You're funny," Elizabeta said between more giggles. The reaction made him smile with a bit more pinkness in his cheeks.

"I just moved here with my grandpa and my little bruder," he said.

"Oh, so that's why I haven't seen you around."

Gilbert nodded, then frowned, "Why were those guys hitting you with mud?"

"They don't like me. Most kids don't, because I like playing knights and cops and robbers and tag and hide-n-seek and they don't like that."

The look on his face was purely confused, "but all that is awesome."

A smile lit up her face, "it is! But they don't want me to play..."

"I'll play with you then. You're almost as awesome as me!" He laughed and Elizabeta smiled wide. "Hey, how 'bout you come over to my house? We can wash you off with the hose!" Gilbert stood up and held out his hand.

Now, some girls might get upset with that. She didn't. "Great! Mud isn't fun when mean people throw it at you, but every other time it's cool." She took the hand and he helped her up. He led her along through the neighborhood until they were one street away from her house. Several other kids saw them and made faces or snubbed them or even yelled insults at them. Yet Gilbert still smiled at everything that she said and kept walking beside her and whenever they reached intersections, he took her hand to cross a street.

They reached a large white house with a wrought iron fence out front. Cornflowers and tulips grew in the garden with a manicured lawn surrounding it. Elizabeta halted in the garden, marvelling her favorite flowers, tulips. Gilbert smiled and tugged her around the back of the house, "Lets get you clean before we pick you flowers." Her eyes sparkled with glee as he grabbed the hose and led her to a spot of concrete that drained away.

Gilbert stood on his tip toes and began a shower for her with the hose. Elizabeta scrubbed herself thoroughly and shut her eyes tight as mud slid down her face. Dirt circled her feet as she got drenched. Once the mud was gone and she was mostly clean, Gilbert stopped the water and dropped the hose. He told her to wait as he ran inside and came out with a large fluffy towel that he dropped on her head and shook dry her hair until it was messy. He smiled at her not amused expression and took a brush from his back pocket and gently combed through her hair.

Elizabeta smiled as he did, feeling more relaxed and comfortable around a little boy she had known for an hour, rather than her parents or the other children that she had known for ages. He was her friend now and that meant the world to her. She had been lonely and had been incredibly hurt every day by the beration by family, kids, and teachers. No one seemed to like her attitude toward life. Except for Gilbert. And that was good enough for her.

* * *

Gilbert held her hand as they walked up the steps to the porch. They were at Elizabeta's house, and she was trembling. Her mother would yell at her, she knew it. Gilbert had come for moral support, and it was now dark. Her mother hated her being out past five in the afternoon, and it was now eight. Gilbert had had her over for dinner and then they watched cartoons.

Gilbert stood on his tip toes and pressed the door bell over and over again. He turned back to Elizabeta who was looking like she would rather sleep on the street that night than face her mother's wrath. He squeezed her hand tenderly and nodded at her, making her smile. They heard a stomping through the house, ending at the door as it swung open.

There was her mother. She had a look of pure fury on her face and was trembling with anger. It faded considerably when she saw the strange child who was holding her daughter's hand. "Who are you?" Her mother asked quite rudely.

"I'm Gilbert, Lizzy's friend," he responded instantly. "You're her mom, right?"

"Yes. And Elizabeta was supposed to be home hours ago. Are you the one who kept her out?" A barely noticable growl was in her voice.

"She had dinner at my house and we watched cartoons and we played board games and lots of other stuff. We didn't realize how late it was," A look of pure animation entered his expression, making Elizabeta smile.

As her mother's eyes drifted over to her daughter, the fury was rekindled. "Your clothes! You ruined them! How dare you? I bought you those clothes and now you can't wear them anymore! It's always with your playing! Stop acting like a boy!"

"Stop! She was getting picked on by the older kids! They hit her with mud! It wasn't her fault!" Gilbert yelled angrily.

Elizabeta's mother looked shocked, then a coldness swept over her. She grabbed Elizabeta's arm and pulled her roughly inside. The little girl looked back at Gilbert briefly before the door slammed shut. She looked so incredibly sad and lonely. He looked lost and upset, like he really didn't want it to end like that.

For the rest of that summer, Elizabeta was forbidden from playing outside. Every time that Gilbert came over, he was sent away by her mother while the poor girl sat at the window and stared at the retreating figure of the boy who had wanted to be friends. She didn't think it was possible now. But it was the first day of school that gave her hope through her loneliness, she could get away from the house and might, just might, be able to regain Gilbert's friendship.

When the day came, her mother told her to wear a pink shirt with sparkly, flowery, swirly designs on it and a skort. So she dressed and sat patiently as her mother brushed out her hair and put it into a pony tail with a baubled hair tie. Elizabeta ate her CoCo Puffs quietly then put her bowl in the sink. She pulled on her shoes and tied them with a bit of difficulty, her fingers hadn't yet accustomed to the intricacy of knots.

Soon, she was waving to her mother and walking to the bus stop. Today was her first day of third grade, and she was going to try to make it a good day. Or as good of a day as she could. Elizabeta walked to the stop sign at the corner and waited for her bus with five other children from her street. Each shouldered a wide assortment of supplies, messenger bags, and back packs. Her green backpack was memorabilia from Adventure Time, it was modeled after Finn's adventuring bag.

She was twitching uneasily. Usually these kids teased her, but now they didn't even acknowledge her existence. That was much worse. Gilbert would be on her bus though, one stop ahead of her, so he'd be there when she got on. Maybe he'd still want to be her friend, maybe he would want to sit with her. Most likely he wouldn't want anything to do with her, she thought. He'd probably ignore her. When the bus pulled up, she stepped on last. Most of the seats were taken, so she shuffled up the aisle as she searched for one.

A pale hand stuck up. It was in the very back, to the right. Waving and motioning for her to come. So she followed it carefully, nervous that it was just another bully. When she reached the last row, avoiding stuck out feet that were meant to trip her, or hands grabbing to hurt her, she was shocked. Gilbert sat there with a grin on his face. He was missing another tooth, in a different place since the old hole had a new tooth in it's place. The boy's hair was neater than when she had first saw him, and his face was cleaner too. He wore an Adventure Time t-shirt with Jake the Dog's face on it and a pair of shorts.

"Sit with me," he explained, a grin on his face.

She smiled back and sat next to him in the seat, shoving her back pack into the floor. Gilbert nudged her to gain her attention, not that it was away from him or anything, but he did it anyway. He handed her a brown paper bag and nodded to show she could open it. Inside was a small pouch of tulip seeds and a few of the actual flowers made into a small bouquet with a rubber band. _He had remembered._

"Thank you!" Elizabeta exclaimed, grinning broadly as she spoke, "they're so pretty!"

"I thought you'd like 'em. What class're you in?" He asked curiously.

"Mrs. Fronze's class. What about you?"

Relief washed over his face, "Great! We're in the same class."

"Great! I'll have a friend in class," even more relief flooded Elizabeta's face.

"It's more than great, Lizzy. It's awesome! Almost as awesome as me!"

She burst into a fit of giggles and nodded in agreement. He was so easy to talk to, to be with. It was perfect. That was the beginning of a crush eating at her lonely heart. Elizabeta didn't notice it for years after, and when she did, she ignored it. It would be awkward to admit her love to her childhood friend, after all. He was her very best friend, and she was his, neither wanted to ruin that.

* * *

Years pass, and the two are still friends. As close as possible without a "relationship" tacked on. They spoke about problems with each other, told each other news, and asked advice. All of this, they did with the other FIRST. They were happy whenever the other was close, almost inexplicably happy. Their feelings for the other had grown over the years, and they were each VERY aware of what they were. But they were also afraid of harming their long, but fragile friendship.

They were juniors, and coincidentally had almost every class together. They had made other friends over the years, as they each matured. Elizabeta had a junior Belgian girl named Bella, and a sophomore Italian boy named Feli. Gilbert had a junior Spanish boy named Antonio, and a junior French boy named Francis. Although they had the other friends, they still trusted each other most.

Bella, Feli, Antonio, and Francis had all realized the pair's love for each other, and were exasperated that they could draw it out this long. It really was exhausting, because when anything mildly romantic happened, they would shrug it off and blush as they moved on with their lives. It was annoying! Neither would admit to it, no matter what the pressure, but it was obvious to anyone with even one tiny brain cell that they were perfect together. The two had gone to dances, parties, or any other function imaginable, as friends! How ignorant could they get?

SO obviously it was up to the four of them to get them together, since they were obviously not going to do it themselves. That's why, at a house party, they decided to act. It was the perfect venue, since their antics to push them together would be simply thought of as drunk behavior.

While they were talking, Francis snuck up behind Gilbert and pushed him. Now, that would have been usual playful behavior if it was not for the fact that the push made Gilbert stumble. The stumble made him lean forward and down so that his lips collided quite painlessly into Elizabeta's and resulted in a kiss. A kiss that lasted a minute longer than it should have, with closed eyes and passion.

Francis thought that he had missed, because he didn't stay and watch. He figured that he'd get the wrath of Elizabeta if he did. They broke apart, each of them were blushing red as they looked around to see if anyone had seen their moment. Thankfully, no one had. But sadly, since no one had, their friends decided that they had to kick it up a notch.

"Liz!" Bella called as she walked up to them with Antonio. "Hey, you should play Truth or Dare with us!"

"You too, amigo," Antonio said, smiling at Gilbert.

"Sure, I'll play," Elizabeta said, trying to move on to normalcy.

"Whatever, I'll play too."

So, Elizabeta and Gilbert settle comfortably on the couch, meaning that Gilbert is laying on his back with his legs thrown over one of the armrests, his head in Elizabeta's lap as she sits normally. Bella, Feli, Antonio, and Francis were spread out across the rest of the room, waiting for the perfect chance to instigate something. The first few are rather boring things, but they gradually get more creative.

"Okay...Liz, truth or dare?" Bella asked, a devilish little smile on her lips.

"Truth," she said, a bit fearful of her friend's expression.

"Tell Gilbert what you think about him."

"I changed my mind," Elizabeta said instantly with a blush on her cheeks. "Dare."

Bella rolled her eyes, "Fiiiine. I dare you to strip to your bra and panties and jump in the pool out back."

She nodded and pushed Gilbert's head off her lap so she could stand. Everyone got up and followed her out to the backyard where a huge "L" shaped pool sat waiting for her. Gilbert ran to get her a towel, but was back quickly with it. After looking back at her friends nervously, Elizabeta began wriggling out of her forest green shirt and white booty shorts, abandoning them by the pool. Now she only wore a red silk bra and a pair of lacy black panties.

And all of her friends couldn't help noticing that Gilbert was staring when Elizabeta wasn't looking.

She walked gracefully over to the diving board and performed a perfect swan dive into the sparkling water. Surfacing a moment later, she crawled out of the water and into Gilbert's arms, where a towel was wrapped around her and rubbed on her head to dry her hair. Everyone walked inside, only slightly pleased with the outcome.

Several more turns pass before reaching Gilbert, who bravely replies, "Dare," to Francis.

"Oh ho ho, mon ami, I've been waiting for this. Take Elizabeta into the closet for seven minutes in heaven."

Gilbert rolled his eyes, "Really? Are you that childish? We played that in sixth grade."

"Exactly, so it shouldn't be that hard for you," Francis replied with a smile.

Glancing over at Elizabeta, who was flushed pink, Gilbert sighed. "Fine." Standing, he took Elizabeta's hand and led her to the closet. Once inside, they shoved the coats and other closet items into the hall and shut the door behind them. A short whispered conversation between them confirmed that they were going to fake it.

Some strange noises were heard outside before Antonio said, "It's not opening until you two finally kiss!"

"How are you going to tell?" Elizabeta asked.

"It'll be obvious," Francis replied.

Gilbert, who thought that was quite a cue, turned the girl towards him and captured her lips. Within seconds, they were on the floor, Gilbert's back leaning against the wall, and her in his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. They kissed each other breathless, and with each breath, they revealed their feelings. Cut short by every kiss, they only managed one word at a time.

It ended up like this:

"I-"

"-love-"

"-you-"

"-Liz."

"I-"

"-love-"

"-you-"

"-too."

That was enough though. And, even when the door opened seven minutes later, they ignored it and continued making out until they fell asleep, right there in the closet.


End file.
